Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Congregation Etz Chaim which serves the people of Lombard in my Congressional District. This weekend, the congregation celebrates its 50th anniversary of serving families in our community.

The congregation was founded in 1960 as Tree Towns Congregation in Elmhurst by eight local families. Today it serves more than 550 families in the western suburbs of Chicago. Leaders within the congregation include Senior Rabbi Steven Bob, Associate Rabbi Andrea Cosnowsky, Educator Anne Stein, Administrator Carol Meyer, and President Al Herbach.

Etz Chaim is the only Jewish congregation of its size in the nation with an all-volunteer religious school faculty. The congregation prides itself on being a growing, thriving center of Reform Judaism where both young and old are welcomed and cherished. Etz Chaim depends on the members to shape its character through involvement in programming and committees.

Congregants have always been very involved in local and international issues on a grassroots level. Over the course of their history, member families have hosted in their homes refugees from Vietnam as well as Soviet Jews escaping oppression. They distribute merchandise made by craftspeople of Lifeline for the Old in Jerusalem. In our own community, social programs include PADS, where the synagogue's social hall becomes a shelter for the homeless every Sunday evening.

Madam Speaker and Distinguished Colleagues, the Etz Chaim congregation is a remarkable institution which has served the people of Lombard faithfully for the last 50 years. Please join me in recognizing its extraordinary impact on the community and wishing the congregation happiness for many more years to come.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, this is a fine bill, and on face value there are some good elements to the bill. Let me give you a kind of behind-the-curtain look, though, at what could have been.

There was an amendment that was offered in the Ways and Means Committee that I thought was thoughtful. What it was trying to do was ultimately create a sense of fairness for families that find themselves being bumped up into tax brackets just sort of through inflation, essentially. I offered an amendment that would have had the Office of Management and Budget determine the spending growth rate by comparing the previous 2 years' nonsecurity discretionary spending without regard to whether spending was offset. In a nutshell, it would have insulated families and taxpayers from being boosted up into what is known as ``bracket creep.''

Now, there are some folks that say, well, all this would do is accelerate deficits and create more of a problem, but if the Federal Government simply lived within its means and followed what President Obama is proposing as it relates to the capping and freezing of nondiscretionary spending, then we wouldn't have this type of problem.

And so, like all speakers I think today were speaking in favor of this bill, but my sense is that we can do better. So my hope, my expectation, and my heartfelt desire is to have a sense of protection, Mr. Speaker, for taxpayers. I think this bill is a little bit of a swing and a miss. I support the underlying bill, but we can clearly do better.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Reverend Kevin Williams, who has been installed as a new Pastor in the Second Baptist Church of Wheaton, which is located in my Congressional district.

The Second Baptist Church is the oldest African American Church in DuPage County. Ever since it opened its doors to worshippers in 1907, this church has worked diligently to glorify God, build up the saved, and win the lost. Through private and collective study groups, as well as public preaching, the Second Baptist Church has strengthened our community by bringing people together through faith.

Reverend Williams is a loving husband and father. He believes that his greatest privilege and joy has been to share the grace of God with others. From the early age of 27, he has used his talents and gifts to spread the glory of God and help congregants of the Second Baptist Church experience the love of Jesus.

Madam Speaker and Distinguished Colleagues, please join me in recognizing the installation of the Reverend Kevin Williams as Pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Wheaton. I believe that Reverend Williams will bring people together in faith and fellowship and help make our local communities a wonderful place to live, work, and raise a family.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

During the markup on this bill, Mr. Rangel of New York was very magnanimous in his concern for our emotional well-being on our side of the aisle. And he said that no matter how sincere they are in their argument, it must be awkward and embarrassing just to say no. I really do appreciate that gesture and his concern for how we're feeling. But the good news for Mr. Rangel is, we don't feel embarrassed, and this isn't awkward. In fact, it is with a sense of duty that we stand up and say, You know what, this bill is a classic underperformer.

If you notice something, we're hearing echoes of the exact same rhetoric that we heard during the stimulus debate. The stimulus, as you will remember, was $750 billion, plus or minus, plus interest, so you are at a trillion dollars worth of commitment and a stampede argument of spending that said, If we would only do this now, only do this quick, only do this right now, unemployment was going to peak at 8 percent. Well, that didn't happen in my home State of Illinois. In fact, The Chicago Tribune recently quoted a civic leader, the Civic Federation of Chicago, and this is what they said regarding the State of Illinois' budget morass, notwithstanding all the help that the majority has claimed that they've foisted on these States. They've said, This is historic. It is epic. It is impossible to overstate the level of peril.

That's with the majority's help.

So now the argument comes, ``Well, you Republicans talk about small government all the time. Let's help small government here.'' I think that's an inherently flawed argument because what we're doing is borrowing and then foisting more spending.

Look, I think ultimately the most difficult and troublesome component of this is the overriding of 60 bilateral trade agreements. I have over 3,400 employees in my district alone in suburban Chicago. That's not to mention another over a quarter of a million employees who are employed by companies that are insourcing jobs.

I think the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce got it just right when they opposed this bill for all the right reasons.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the reconciliation procedure that will transform over one-sixth of our nation's economy and increasingly cause reliance on the federal government for healthcare and education. Beyond my procedural and political problems, I have major concerns with the elimination of the Federal Family Education Loan program because it will destroy an important tool for need-based graduate student aid--the School as Lender program. Overhauling the federal student loan program will have unintended consequences in the form of lost private sector jobs and lost opportunities for graduate students in Illinois' Sixth Congressional District. Millions of dollars in financial aid for thousands of students across the country will be lost. I also fear the program will add to our nation's already record deficit.

Procedurally, the proposal has not received a hearing or markup in the United States Senate. At least nine Democrats in the Senate have written with concerns on the proposal's effect on job losses in the private sector.

The elimination of the School as Lender program ignores the needs of graduate students. Schools obtain credit to make loans and use the proceeds from their origination to support financial aid. Proceeds from the sale of loans must be returned to graduate students in the form of need-based grants. A

2005 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report stated, ``School lenders either used money to lower borrowing costs and/or provide need- based grants to its students.'' Without School as Lender, many students will now be forced to take out more loans and student debt.

Within my Congressional District, one of the pioneers of the School as Lender program, Midwestern University, uses its School as Lender program to provide need-based grants to students who would otherwise not be able to pursue the University's graduate programs in osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, dental medicine and other health sciences. Decreasing access to education for low-income students would further inflame the shortage of the healthcare workforce as Congress considers a massive healthcare takeover. Over the past three academic years, Midwestern University has paid out over four million dollars in School as Lender scholarship monies to more than 1,500 students. Midwestern lacks profit motives to continue the program--they simply desire to maintain an affordable option to attract graduate students.

Additionally, the savings from the transition to fully federal funded student lending has been overpromised and any savings will be overspent. Updated Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scores show the initiative is projected to increase deficits rather than decrease our debt. According to CBO, after evaluating the fair value of providing credit assistance to students including the cost of market risk and the present value of future administrative costs, the lending overhaul increases the deficit even more significantly. The House-passed (H.R. 3221) measure promises $77 billion in new spending compared to only $40 billion in savings from the President's proposal. This accounting is necessary to factor all of the risks that loans and loan guarantees impose on taxpayers and the cost of market risk.

Through the School as Lender program, Midwestern is able to break down cost barriers that keep many low-income students from seeking graduate degrees. I urge my colleagues to rise against this overreach that would prohibit graduate students from access to a valuable scholarship opportunity while further burdening our children with an increase to our record national debt.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this flawed health care bill.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, just because it's historic doesn't mean it's good. I think we've got to be reminded of that. I think back to history for something that actually was good, and that was when Alexander Hamilton said regarding our Constitution, ``Here, sir, the people govern.''

We would be wise to listen to the American people. The American people have said ``no'' to the ABCs of PelosiCare. They have said ``no'' to the arrogance of this bill. They have said ``no'' to the budget-busting nature of this bill. And they have said ``no'' to the crippling of the economy of this bill.

In Illinois, a manufacturer called Caterpillar said that next year alone it will cost the company a hundred million dollars. What does that do to a State that is left roughshod by overpromises and underdelivering on a stimulus that failed?

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I just want to reflect back for a minute and think about a couple of football seasons ago. Remember when the New England Patriots were having just an unbelievable season, just unbelievable, winning game after game after game after game. And it looked like there was just no end in sight. In fact, if you were going to be in the t-shirt business or the tchotchke business or the hat business no one would have thought you crazy if you would have said that the New England Patriots were going to be the Super Bowl champions that year. It was a year or 2 or 3 ago. You know where I'm going.

But there was one little thing that had to happen before the Patriots could get the Super Bowl ring that year. That was, they had to play a Super Bowl. And you remember that. There was a team, the New York Giants, that had a little bit different of a plan. The New York Giants came down and they played that game, and lo and behold the Giants won the Super Bowl.

There is a lot going on inside this Capitol tonight. There is a lot going on inside this town tonight. There is a lot of churn and a lot of burn, and a lot of folks don't know which way they are going to go on this vote. We know one thing for sure: There's going to be 178 Republicans that are going to stand up and vote against this bill. There is also going to be some number of clear-thinking Democrats on the other side of the aisle who either understand fundamentally what this will mean to the country or understand fundamentally that they will run roughshod over their constituents, or for whatever reason are going to come over and vote with us. We just don't know what number that is. So this thing is not done by a long shot.

I was so incredibly encouraged to go out today and to see the folks that were coming out, respectful, solid, clear-thinking Americans. As the gentleman from Georgia said, these folks got up, they drove all night. I got a voice mail from a friend from Illinois. He and his wife were driving all night to get out here. Why? Because they knew that this was the place to be. They knew that this was the time to stand up for freedom.

Ultimately, if you think about it, there is an account in the Bible that I want to take us all back to. We all remember Isaac, Abraham's son, who had two sons himself. One son was Esau, the oldest son, and the other was Jacob. Esau, as the older son in that culture and that time, basically when the old man were to die, Esau, the oldest son, was going to get the lion's share of his father's estate, probably a 90 percent ownership share. Something like that. It was called the birthright.

And as the Bible tells the story, Esau is out in the field and he is hungry. I mean he is really, really hungry. He comes back in, his younger brother Jacob is making a pot of stew. And Esau smells the stew and he says to his younger brother, ``Give me some stew.'' And Jacob, the younger brother, says to the older one, ``Give me your birthright.'' And Esau, like a fool, said ``Yes.'' Esau traded his birthright for what? For a pot of stew. For nothing.

Now, there's a lot of Americans right now that are anxious. There's a lot of Americans that look out over this economy and this season that we are in and they say, wow, I've not seen this season. I've not seen unemployment like this. I've not seen Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unravel like this. I've not seen the wheels come off the cart like this. I've not seen it where my children come out and graduate from college and can't get a good job because unemployment has peaked beyond 8 percent even though the White House told me if we spent a trillion dollars that was all going to be fine and fantastic. I've not seen a season like this before.

Ultimately, sometimes there are folks that are listening to that and are feeling that, and are anxious, and they're hungry, and they're fearful, and they're worried. And you know what, they have every right to be. But the temptation--and this is where this group that came in today, these folks that drove overnight, they understand the temptation. And what they are saying and what Republicans are saying in the House of Representatives today, what Republicans are saying in the other body, what they are all saying is, don't take the bait.

Don't give away your birthright as an American for what? For stability? From this town? From this place? Are you kidding? This institution can't balance a checkbook. They can't offer you stability. They can't offer you the hope for your children in the future. Don't take the bait.

And what the American public is saying to political leadership is, Look. We've seen it. We understand it. Yeah. We're fearful. We're uncertain about the future, but we know it's not where that majority wants to take us. We know we don't want to go there. That doesn't end well. That ends in lost opportunity. That ends in calamitous debt that is foisted on our children and our grandchildren.

You know, the gentleman mentioned a couple of minutes ago this IRS empowerment, essentially, that comes as a result of this bill. You think about that. Now, it would be fantastic if the bill really did create more slots, more opportunities for physicians like Dr. Burgess, for physicians like Dr. Price, for physicians like Dr. Gingrey and others. We've got more medical doctors in our conference, House Republicans who are physicians, than ever in history. It would be great if this bill created slots. It doesn't.

You know what it does? It creates slots for IRS agents. Why? Because the Internal Revenue Service is going to be the group, going to be the institution that is empowered if this majority has their way. Think about that. What that

ultimately means is health care areas are going to be sending the functionality equivalent of a 1099 to the Internal Revenue Service telling them who's got the official coverage that Speaker Pelosi has said they need to have.

You got the official coverage, okay. You get the 1099 that comes from the health carrier and it goes to the IRS. But if your name is not on that list and you're a taxpayer, you know what's going to happen? You better come up with some excuse, because if you don't come up with an excuse, do you know who's coming after you? 16,500 new IRS employees, a billion dollars a year, the CBO estimates, $10 billion over 10 years. For what? For what? For a crushing debt. For an organization to expand authority. And that is absolutely not the direction we need to go.

There are so many reasons to say no, no, no, no, no. This is not what we need to do. And I am so encouraged by the folks who showed up today that said, You know what? We're going to speak out. We're going to speak out. The Republican leader, John Boehner, put it best--and then I will close and I will yield back. He said this. He said Democrats may run Washington but the Americans run the country, and that is true.

This would have been done months and months and months ago, but what has happened? The American public has risen up every time. Every time. Every time. Google the phrase ``end game,'' ``Democrat's end game.'' Google that phrase and you will see that they were starting to trot this out at the end of July. Remember? This was all game, set, match, done. Go home. This is going to be done by the August recess. And then one group of people said, No. And that was the American people. The American people said, No. No. We listened, but thank you very much. We don't want this bill. We want you guys to go back to the drawing board and start over.

So the fight is on. This is anything but done. This is anything but finished, and the American public knows it. That majority knows it, because if they had the votes, we would be voting tonight. We would be voting tonight if they had the votes. They don't have the votes yet, and there are still some clear thinkers on that side of the aisle, Mr. Speaker, who understand what is at stake.

I have a lot of ideas, but my sense is you've got something on the top of your mind. What is that?

It is a crushing thought, actually. Here is the misfortune of this; that there is, in this time in our country, really an understanding that health care does cost too much, and everybody who needs access doesn't have access, and preexisting conditions do jam people up. Those are the things that I am hearing from my district. They say, You know what? That is what we want you to be talking about. We don't want you to be talking about wild-eyed 2,700-page adventures. We don't want to be talking about trillion dollar boondoggles where States in different places across the country, based on political influence, could be manipulating things and cajoling things that you can hardly stand when you hear about them or talk about them with a straight face.

But my district is saying--and I know the gentleman from Tyler, Texas's district is saying the same thing, and that is: Get about the business of fixing this economy. Get about the business of driving health care costs down and, therefore, by driving it down, making it more affordable, and then ultimately deal with preexisting conditions. We can do that. We have a good Republican plan to do that.

But with all due respect to Speaker Pelosi, what she is asking this majority to do--and some of these Members that haven't made up their minds right now--she is asking them to do what you could only characterize as political bungee jumping. Just go right off the bridge. The Speaker hasn't measured the rope. She hasn't measured the rope, and she's saying, No, you all just lean forward. It will be great. Just lean forward just right off that bridge. Just lean forward.

And yeah, I'm sure it looks really good. It looks like it's going to catch. She hasn't measured that rope, and she's asking her majority, unfortunately, to lean over and just, frankly, squander the trust that the American public has put them in.

Madam Speaker, I am not from the Bronx, but I am familiar with the phrase ``the gig is up.'' I'm from Chicago, and in Chicago they call it a hustle, and I think that is exactly what this bill is. I want to highlight something that was brought to the attention of the Ways and Means Committee just a couple of days ago,

Madam Speaker, and that is this: With this bill that is being foisted upon the American public at this time, the Internal Revenue Service is going to grow. In other words, this bill, in the words of our friend Kevin Brady from Texas, he pointed out this bill doesn't create physicians or nurses or physical therapists or a whole host of health care providers, oh, no.

What this bill does is it creates positions for Internal Revenue Service agents; 16,500 IRS agents are estimated to be able to carry out this bill to pursue the individual mandate tax, the individual mandate tax which the IRS is going to begin tracking. Individuals are going to be getting the functional equivalent of a 1099, and the IRS is going to be tracking that, not annually, but they are going to be tracking that monthly. Think about that. They are going to be watching month by month by month. And whoa, if you are an American and you don't have what Speaker Pelosi says and you don't have what they say in the other Chamber that you need to have, then you know what; you are going to get taxed. In order to enforce that tax, do you know what is going to happen? They are going to have more IRS agents.

Madam Speaker, we can do better. We need to be creating more opportunities for Americans to get health care and not have a heavy hand of government with 16,000 more IRS employees. We know what we need to do with this bill this weekend. Let's vote ``no.'' Let's start over and let's do it the right way.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Duane Kyrish, a winner of Navistar's Circle of Excellence Award for 2009. Located in Illinois, Navistar employs many of my constituents and is an important economic engine for my district, undoubtedly so because of suppliers like Mr. Kyrish.

The Circle of Excellence, which is awarded by the international dealer organization of Navistar, Inc., honors international truck dealerships that achieve the highest level of dealer performance with respect to operating and financial standards, market representation, and most importantly, customer satisfaction. It is the highest honor a dealer principal can receive from the company.

Mr. Kyrish's business, Longhorn International Trucks, is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and was acquired by the family in 1976. Under his leadership, it has grown into one of the preeminent truck dealerships in the Southwest and the entire nation, with 105 employees and two dealer locations. In 1999, Duane was named the first International Dealer of the Year, an honor awarded to the one International dealer who exhibits the highest commitment to best-in- class customer services. With this most recent award, Longhorn International Trucks has now received the Circle of Excellence Award a total of 27 times.

Duane has achieved this level of accomplishment and recognition through many years of hard work and service to his industry and community. He got his commercial operator's license at 17 and began driving trucks for the International Harvester Fort Worth branch. In August 1976, Duane began his professional careers in the truck business at the Austin dealership. Both Duane, and his twin brother Wayne, work for the family business. Today, in addition to leading Longhorn International Trucks, he has also built a successful truck leasing business, Longhorn Idealease, which is a multi-year winner of the IdealGold Award for Excellence.

Madam Speaker and distinguished colleagues, please join me in honoring Mr. Kyrish for his contributions to his community and to the nation as a whole.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Lyle Bassett, a winner of Navistar's Circle of Excellence Award for 2009. Located in Illinois, Navistar employs many of my constituents and is an important economic engine for my district, undoubtedly so because of suppliers like Mr. Bassett.

The Circle of Excellence, which is awarded by the international dealer organization of Navistar, Inc., honors international truck dealerships that achieve the highest level of dealer performance with respect to operating and financial standards, market representation, and most importantly, customer satisfaction. It is the highest honor a dealer principal can receive from the company.

Mr. Bassett's business, Riverview International Trucks, LLC, is headquartered in West Sacramento, California, and has grown sales and revenue from $5 million in 1982 to more than $60 million in 2009, which was a record year for the business. The business employs 78. Lyle started out as a trainee at International Harvester in 1966 and worked his way through various areas of the business, prior to buying Riverview International Trucks in July 1981. With this most recent award, Riverview International Trucks has now received the Circle of Excellence Award a total of three times.

Lyle has achieved this level of accomplishment and recognition through many years of hard work and service to his industry and community. He is active in his community as a member of the Rotary Club of Sacramento, where he supports the club's annual fundraising events and efforts to provide college scholarships to high school students, and as a Meal on Wheels volunteer, providing home-delivered meals to seniors. He is known as a hard working man who takes care of his family, employees and customers each and every day the gates are open at Riverview International Trucks.

Madam Speaker and distinguished colleagues, please join me in honoring Lyle Bassett for his contributions to his community and to the nation as a whole.

Madam Speaker, as we are here today on the House floor, at this very moment the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives is smiling and dialing. They are calling Members of Congress on the other side of the aisle, cajoling them and coaxing them and urging them to do the equivalent of really political bungee jumping, but they don't know how long the cord is. They are saying, You be the first one to jump off. We're going to vote for this Senate bill, and you are going to trust in the Senate to take it up and fix it. Or alternatively, even worse, we're not going to have a final vote on this bill.

Can you imagine a process that is this manipulated that is at this high stakes, literally the Federal Government taking over one-sixth of the economy really in the twinkling of an eye? And it is as if the Democratic leaders are telling the American public, Oh, look, we have got a wonderful plan for your life. You are just going to love it. We are going to vote on it, and then we'll let you read it.

Madam Speaker, we can do better. The American public demands that we do better, to vote ``no'' and start over.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 2010 sIMPACT Day held by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS).

Founded in 1933, NACDS has worked tirelessly to promote the positive community impact of the chain drug industry. Throughout its history, NACDS and its 150 chains and 39,000 individual pharmacy members have worked to adapt to the changing needs of consumers. sIMPACT Day allows community pharmacies to share the numerous benefits of their industry.

I am delighted to recognize the chain drug stores nationwide that have a significant presence in my district. Not only do they provide thousands of quality jobs, but these pharmacies also provide a vital service as part of the healthcare delivery system of my district.

Madam Speaker and Distinguished Colleagues, please join me in recognizing The 2010 sIMPACT Day, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, and the work these tireless professionals are doing to provide high quality health services to the public.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. ROSKAM asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank and congratulate Chairman Levin for his leadership on this issue, and particularly want to thank him for the gesture of reaching out to the minority on this and hope it is a glimpse of things to come.

As the chairman indicated, this is one of these areas that clearly all of America comes together on. There are ample examples of where we have done this in the past, obviously with the tsunami back in 2005, and most recently you had members of the Ways and Means Committee that were on the floor together urging us to change the Tax Code to accommodate the relief efforts in Haiti.

This also is really worthy of us coming together quickly in this tax season and allowing Americans to make contributions to Chile and, in fact, extending the period of time that they are able to make contributions to Haitian relief efforts, all in the context of completing their 2009 tax returns.

Why is this important? It is important because in order to bring rescue and recovery in times of great crisis, it takes more than simply the American Government working. That is important, but it also takes the American public.

I had an event in my district, Mr. Speaker, a couple of weeks ago, where we brought together folks to discuss Haitian relief efforts. My recollection is that there was a Red Cross official who was there, and she said a very interesting thing. She said that the event in Haiti, and I know we are talking about Chile today primarily, but she said the event in Haiti had redefined what it means to be local.

I thought, Isn't that interesting? Here we have folks that have responded incredibly generously, Americans have, at the sight and the sounds and the visuals of real suffering in our part of the world, and what have they done? They have taken their checkbook out. They have written a check. They have donated online. They have donated famously on their cell phones now in overwhelming numbers. But I think it was really poignant when she said local contributions and the definition of a local tragedy has been redefined. So here we are today, Republicans and Democrats together, saying that this is an area where we need to move forward.

I know that Mr. Camp, the ranking member from Michigan, would have been here, but, as Chairman Levin mentioned, he has had a death in the family and he has that obligation. I know I speak for an overwhelming majority of Republicans when saying this is an area that we should all come together on and move quickly to move this legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart), a great champion of freedom and hope and rescue in the Americas.

Mr. Speaker, in a nutshell, this bill does three things then: It extends the time period for contributions to Haiti for attribution to a 2009 tax return; it extends the contribution until April 15th for contributions to Chile for relief efforts for the 2009 tax return; and, as the gentleman from Oregon mentioned, it cleans up this ambiguity as it relates to contributions on cell phones. It is well thought out, it is timely, there is an urgency to it, and I urge its passage.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, a couple of weeks ago President Obama came and he addressed the House Republicans in our retreat in Baltimore, and I posed a question to him. And, in a nutshell, I asked, how about the free trade agreements?

This is an opportunity where we can come together, both sides of the aisle, frankly, at a no-cost job creation initiative. And we've heard a lot of consternation and a lot of hand-wringing today, and we've seen it on the House floor, where Democrats are very, very concerned about a debt that they've inherited, they claim. Republicans have pointed out the national debt has tripled under their watch.

And yet here is an opportunity to put together and to advance legislation that will open markets overseas in Panama, in Colombia, and in South Korea.

And in a moment of candor, President Obama acknowledged that the lion's share of the problem was on his side of the aisle, that in fact it was politics in the Democratic Caucus that was preventing that from coming to the floor.

And I think, Mr. Speaker, this is an opportunity for us to transcend those problems and do a no-cost job creator, and that is pass these free trade agreements.